Mundabor celebrates these Vatican initiatives:
At this point you already all know about the latest, surprisingly coherent decisions in the Vatican. Lest it be told that I only speak of the man in order to criticise him, I would like to say a word or two of praise at least of the coherence involved.
1. The Vatican decision to shut down and destroy all air conditioners within the Vatican city (similar measures will be implemented in every Catholic diocese in time) is at least a sign of coherence. Granted, the one or other old prelate may die, at least indirectly, because of the heat that follows (it promises to be a very hot summer in Rome), but it is good to see that there is the willingness to put one’s sweat where one’s encyclical is. Note that the air conditioning appliances will be destroyed, not sold. It makes sense, as selling them would only encourage consumerism and shift the problem to other offices and households.
2. The decision, also announced, to put an immediate end to every travelling of the Pope is likewise to be praised. In the age of the Internet and social media, the voice of the Pope can reach pretty much anyone without any need to cause huge Co2 emissions for himself, his entourage, the security, the journalists, and the rest of the circus. Twitter is so environmentally friendly…
3. Even more coherent is the decision to put an end to World Youth Days. Millions of people gathering every time. A stunningly expensive exercise in terms of not only money (which can be given to the poor), but emissions. One can agree or not with the ideology of Laudato Si, but here is one saying that at least they practice their bad preaching.
4. I find the decision to have the Vatican carbon-neutral within 2016, and every diocesan office within 2019, a tad extreme. It will obviously require not only to sweat in summer, but also to freeze in winter; and the Roman winters can be fairly punishing at times, at least if you never lived in Connecticut, or Minnesota. It will require to curb the use of electricity, gas, fuel, mobility, food, everything. It will be a mess. But it will also give a great contribution in introducing that kind of simple, poor, rural society in which the Pontiff clearly sees the solution to our problems. And it will be an example. A great, if stupid, example.
In order to support the Holy Father’s Encyclical the faithful that live one hundred miles or more from Philadelphia should boycott the Papal visit. As a matter of obidence the Vatican should consider canceling all future travel. His holiness may wish to conduct his affairs from a cardboard box in Calcutta.
Oh….and happy Father’s day.
Prayers are still going out to Francisco.
It’s just harder to do it.
A gas-guzzling Airbus A340-300? Why is he flying in a four-engine jet when he could travel in a more economical twinjet, say, an A330? Chartering a Malaysian 777 would provide a welcome show of confidence for a developing, southern country.
Ever hear “Do as I say and not a I do”? Does AlGore follow what he has preached??? Sort of like armchair quarterbacks knowing what everyone else should do from the comfort of their nice soft chair in a controlled temperature environment.
I want to hear that the Pope is now a vegetarian. Those cows, oh those mischievous cows and their diabolical methane emissions!
I find Pope Francis’ hypocrisy loathsome. He is just like all liberal progressives. Energy austerity is mandatory for you and me but optional for him.
I often wonder what our first Pope, Pope St. Peter, would think of these modern Popes, at least as an earthly man. As the keeper of the Pearly Gates, I assume he has sinless thoughts in accord with with all the other Saints and Angels in Heaven. (Do sinless people and angels ever shake their heads and think “Oy vey”?)
Hysterical!
Ross Douthat at the NY Times yesterday writes:
” However, its catastrophism also leaves this pope more open to empirical criticism. For instance, he doesn’t grapple sufficiently with evidence that the global poor have become steadily less poor under precisely the world system he decries — a reality that has complicated implications for environmentalism.”
I think some complaints of hypocrisy are overdone. If a politician preaches family values while having affairs does not mean that the advice does not make sense for me, or Michelle Obama’s health food advice while chowing down hamburgers could still be good advice for my own health. However, environmental hyprocrisy is the worst, since if the hypocrits would use less whatever then I could keep my behavior the same and the net effect is the same.
The environment belongs to the people, not to climate changegate.
The danger with hypocrisy is that it destroys your credibility. Some particular advice from the hypocrite may or may not be valuable, but it is less likely to be accepted on the word of the hypocrite. Hypocrisy by Church prelates weighed heavily in the success of the Protestant revolt.
As the leader of the Catholic world, let us ask Francis to “walk the talk.”
1. Implement an immediate policy that he and all of the princes of the Church, all the laity, all the workers in Catholic institutions, and everyone who does any service of the Church, immediately dress in sackcloth, donate all of their worldly possessions to the poor, and vow to never again use coal, electricity, or gas in their homes, their businesses, their parishes, their offices, their spaces as given to them as NGO’s, and donate their automobiles and all other vehicles of transportation to be crushed into oblivion as climate polluters and vow to always walk, bicycle or use horse or mule-drawn transportation wherever they may need to go (as long as both PETA and the various committees of the United Nations approve the horses/mules as not to damage their dignity and worth as creatures of God and the environment), and under no circumstances, will the use of air-conditioning be allowed nor uncertified (by the United Nations or the experts on climate change) practices, use of materials, chemicals, foodstuffs, goods, or services be allowed.
2. Since man-made climate change has already created a doomsday effect, no individual, no government body or entity, no church official or representative, or government office or employee of any organization, public or private, be allowed to determine for themselves the amount of any kind of energy they use, but a panel of “experts” will determine, for everyone throughout the world, the amount and type of energy all individuals, all industry, and all users of any kind of “energy” will be allowed to access and use and the cost for this access and use will be determined by the body of “experts” in that glorious, “only hope of mankind”, United Nations.